


Within a Dream

by Lauren (notalwaysweak)



Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-05
Updated: 2013-07-05
Packaged: 2017-12-17 18:38:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/870737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notalwaysweak/pseuds/Lauren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhi's prompt was 'Rimmer/Holly, butter'. This was in 2007 so I am no longer sure what interpretation she intended me to get out of it, but this... well, might not have been it, but hopefully it's all right. Rimmer/female!Holly, fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Within a Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Red Dwarf characters do not belong to me and I am making no money off this work of fan fiction.
> 
> Thanks to Tronny-bear and Ver for betaing, and Ver again for an idle comment that led to me relocating the fic.

‘Pass the butter, Ace,’ Holly says, and Rimmer slides the little dish across the table to her. They are sitting outside a little sidewalk café that appears to be somewhere in Paris, if he’s got his Earth-that-was geography anywhere close to correct. It’s early evening; there are a thousand bright lights laced through the trees around them and Holly’s smile outshines them all. She’s buttering a scone and Rimmer reaches automatically to pass her the jam.

It’s funny how at whatever time past sundown this is she’s still doing her demure afternoon-tea thing. They both wear sleek, elegant black and nobody passing by gives them a second look. She calls him ‘Ace’ here but spares him the hideous foil jacket and hair; instead she makes his unruly brown hair look more presentable, as well as putting a soft wave in her own usually straight blonde locks.

Their hands find each other often in little touches and strokes. Rimmer lets himself smile naturally around her instead of the forced grimace he drags out when he’s trying not to throttle Lister. After just the first visit to the places afforded to them by Holly’s imagination, he felt sorry for Lister, limited to AR discs if he wants to go anywhere beyond the _Dwarf_.

‘You’re daydreaming,’ Holly scolds him, slapping the back of his hand lightly.

‘I was thinking about Lister,’ Rimmer says automatically, without thinking about how it might sound.

Holly laughs. ‘Not about me?’ She leans forward just enough to give him a good view of her cleavage.

‘Only that he doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.’ Rimmer swallows hard and tries not to stare; they are trying to take things slowly, because if things fall apart between them the ship won’t be big enough for the two of them.

‘That’s my Ace,’ Holly says, slipping her hand under his and interlinking their fingers. ‘Let’s go for a walk.’

Rimmer casts a glance towards the cosy little hotel behind the café, but follows her as the scene starts to dissolve around them. As though he has a choice.

 

(In the sleeping quarters they lie together, Holly’s hand curled across Rimmer’s chest, an extension of his projection that she creates so they can be together in the real world as well as in her mind world.)

 

They’re out amongst the people now and Rimmer recognises faces in the crowd. Holly has conjured them from her memory and _Red Dwarf_ ’s crew are who she remembers best, even if they look a little different dressed in Parisian garb. The first time it was a little painful to see dead people walking, but he’s a dead man himself and life with Holly, like this, is better than no life at all, even if it only comes in snatches and bits when the others aren’t around.

Holly seems to sense his discomfort (and why shouldn’t she, considering she controls his hologram and hence can doubtless read his mind); she leads him off the Champs-Élyséesand down a side street, where chestnut trees that look fake but are probably real sway gently in an imaginary breeze. She is good at the details.

She’s good at other things, too. They may be taking it slowly, but with the ability to touch and feel and sense granted to them by this electronic dream, they have quickly found that their favourite thing to touch is one another. Her lips press against his and a quick sweep of her tongue has him opening his mouth to hers, one hand seeking out her blonde hair and combing through it as she backs him up against a wall.

‘You don’t look three million years old,’ he tells her a little breathlessly after approximately a forever of kissing.

‘Nor do you,’ she says with a coy smile.

They kiss, and kiss, and kiss, until Rimmer feels as though his heart’s going to beat right out of his chest. Holly breaks away and puts her palm over his sternum; clearly she can feel it too.

‘Should we take this back upstairs?’ she asks, eyebrow quirking.

‘Are... Holly, we said we’d wait.’

‘Do you really want to wait?’

Rimmer looks down at his shoes. ‘I don’t want to disappoint you,’ he not-really explains.

‘What are you afraid of?’

‘Not living up to your expectations.’

‘Ace – _Arnold_. I’ve lived with you for years now. I’ve heard your dreams, your hopes, your desires. I know what sort of experience you have. And you still have more than I do. We can learn together.’

‘You won’t switch me off if I’m terrible?’

Holly bursts out laughing. ‘You really think I’d _kill_ you over bad sex?’

‘Maybe. If it was bad enough.’

‘You’re unbelievable,’ she says fondly.

 

They don’t go up to the hotel room after all, because for now it’s enough to walk hand in hand along the Champs-Élysées, amongst the now-anonymous faces in the crowd, enjoying the buzz and hum of humanity. Holly invents a mugger for Rimmer to confront and chase off. He may not know much French but can manage ‘Arrêtez!’ They’ve been here a few times now. Holly likes feeling chic.

‘You really think I’m a hero, don’t you?’ he asks when he comes back, waving her purse triumphantly.

‘Why else would I call you “Ace”?’

‘Pandering to my ego?’

‘A little pandering can’t hurt. You may have an ego the size of a planet, but your self-esteem’s a mess.’ She looks quite serious all of a sudden. ‘I was alone for three million years. Now I have you, and Dave, and Kryten, and Cat. I need you to keep Dave sane, I need him to keep Kryten working, and I need all three of you to keep the Cat from grooming himself in the Drive Room and irreparably hairballing something essential.’

‘Are you really only doing this to keep me _happy_?’

‘ _Arnold_. Do you really think this is just an act? I’m doing it for you and me, not just you. My motives are at least partly selfish.’

‘I suppose it’s an improvement over moon impersonations and giving me Petersen’s body parts,’ Rimmer grumbles.

Holly laughs. ‘I could give you Kochanski’s body again...’

Rimmer just blinks at that, which only makes Holly laugh harder.

They’re running out of street to wander along. ‘Where to now?’ Rimmer asks. ‘Should we go back?’

Holly suddenly gets a familiar faraway look on her face. Massive as her mind might be, there are times when she needs to devote all of her runtime to the _Dwarf_ , and that look means it’s time to go all the way back.

‘Sorry,’ she says as the scene starts fading to black around them.

‘See you soon,’ Rimmer says, leaning in to kiss her goodbye.

 

(He has enough time to feel her blonde hair brushing his face as she touches her lips to his in a not quite there kiss, and then the extension of his hologram softly and silently vanishes away, leaving him alone in the bunk.)


End file.
